A year after the oil spill, the Cat Island ecosystem struggles to recover | PhotoBlog

Gerald Herbert / AP

Meredith Birkett writes:Last year, Associated Press photographer Gerald Herbert covered the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its aftermath. This month, he returned to see how one impacted area off the coast of Louisiana, Cat Island, is faring a year after the environmental disaster. He discovered a changed ecosystem where land is eroding and vegetation is dead or dying. Biologists from the Louisiana Department of Fish and Wildlife say Cat Island is struggling to recover because the island was completely washed by oil, in part because of poorly maintained oil booms.

Read more and see compelling images from the oil spill one year ago via photoblog.msnbc.msn.com

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